[RedSky0]

DAP Review: MP3 Player News and Reviews: mintpass mintpad (Another iriver news? Kinda.)
Mintpass's mintpad set to freshen up the pockets of American gadget lovers soon

I'm pretty intrigued by it, mostly because it's from a start-up formed by the former iriver CEO under whom they released the ihp1x0/h3x0 series but also because it's a nifty product all around with intriguing drawing features, video/audio playing capabilities, WiFi including flash/chat capabilities in addition to a camera, scheduler and voice recorder. DAPReview says it's supposed to "sound spectacular" as well. Downsides are, it's somewhat chunkier relative to newer players, the screen is only 262000 colors, and capacity-wise it's 4GB + a microSD expansion slot that goes up to 16GB.

 

[DrBenway]

I was wondering when someone was going to get around to starting a thread about this interesting little device.

Thanks for the link; here's another, to Jenn K. Lee's hands-on first impressions at the pocketables tech blog. She seems to like it, and says that initial listening tests with triple.fi 10 Pros reveals "great sound quality."

I'm intrigued by the Mintpass. I'm no fan of WinCE, but the support for WinCE apps might make this a useful DAP/PDA combo. Lee says the Web browsing is serviceable, which would also be a nice plus, but I'm skeptical of how good browsing can be on a screen that tiny.

For me, it all comes down to how good it sounds. In that regard, the iRiver heritage of the company is somewhat promising.

 

[RedSky0]

Yeah, besides all that the main thing that's got me interested in it is that it's expected to be priced somewhere around $150, which makes it pretty affordable for a device that has wifi with flash, and supposedly good sound quality compared to anything else comparable out there.

 

[olblueyez]

20 gigs total and it plays flac, very nice.

 

[DrBenway]

I can't vouch for this reviewer or his conclusions, but he claims to have a unit in hand; take his impressions for what they are worth.

There are no comments about SQ, though he seems to generally like the media functions.

His comments about the browser are less than encouraging:

"The browser flat out stinks. If you're expecting this thing to replace your iPod Touch, you're going to be very disappointed. The biggest annoyance is that it's a proxy based browser, using a Korean proxy. As a result, it defaults to the Korean version of a website, unless there isn't one, and there's no apparent way to change the settings."

The browser is not a make-or-break feature for me. If the SQ is there, I don't really care whether it has a browser, to tell you the truth. But the proxy server sounds like a bad idea on several levels. I hope Mintpass will ditch this approach by the time the device makes its way onto US store shelves.

 

[RedSky0]

Korean proxy sounds like something that will changed for a localised release in say the US and elsewhere internationally. Proprietary USB cable and software definitely irks me though.

 

[DrBenway]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedSky0 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Korean proxy sounds like something that will changed for a localised release in say the US and elsewhere internationally.

Even with the expected conversion/translation for markets outside Korea, I think the proxy server is a bad idea. This is a startup company; what happens if they go under, and take the proxy server down with them? My guess is the browser stops working.

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedSky0 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Proprietary USB cable and software definitely irks me though.

Me too. You would think this would be a dead issue by now.

 

[RedSky0]

Heh, yeah what pisses me off more is both the iriver H1X0/H3X0 which were made essentially by the same people/company had neither.

 

[DrBenway]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedSky0 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Heh, yeah what pisses me off more is both the iriver H1X0/H3X0 which were made essentially by the same people/company had neither.

It gets worse when you consider that it must have cost them more to spec/design/integrate proprietary components than it would have to just go with standard off-the-shelf solutions. As a wise man once said, "go figure."

 

[TedwardRoberts]

I absolutely love the design of this thing. It's probably between this and the Zune HD for my next DAP.

 

[tds101]

Here's a member from DAPReview selling his mintpad, and he's asking $150.00: DAP Review: MP3 Player News and Reviews: Forums / For Sale/For Trade / FS: Mintpass Mintpad 4gb

 

[DrBenway]

It seems silly to speculate about the next version of the Mintpad before the first version is widely available in the US, but the Pocketables tech blog reports that the second iteration of the device may run Google's open-source Android OS.

According to Pocketables, when asked about the rumor, a Mintpass source said, "Such things are being discussed for the second generation mintpad, but nothing is set for sure. I can tell you that the next generation mintpad will be quite high in specification, though."

Right now, I'd happily settle for a US release of the first gen device.

 

[RedSky0]

Interested, I was tentatively considering it as a light-weight video player/Wi-Fi browser alternative to my 5.5G but if they can release a new version of it with a larger screen, a better OS and a metal body while still keeping it really nicely priced then I'm as good as sold. Hopefully when that eventually comes out (if it does), the wait for international release will be less gargantuous.

 

[DrBenway]

Quote:

Originally Posted by RedSky0 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Interested, I was tentatively considering it as a light-weight video player/Wi-Fi browser alternative to my 5.5G but if they can release a new version of it with a larger screen, a better OS and a metal body while still keeping it really nicely priced then I'm as good as sold. Hopefully when that eventually comes out (if it does), the wait for international release will be less gargantuous.

It does sound interesting, but I'm not thrilled by the idea of a significantly larger form-factor. I'm looking for something that sounds great and disappears into a pants or jacket pocket. A larger screen would certainly help with PDA and Web functions, but wouldn't add anything to the core audio functions I am primarily interested in. Portability would also probably suffer.

All things considered, I'd rather have a lineout/digital out.

On the other hand, WinCe has always been a lame excuse for an OS, and Android would probably be a real step up; the fact that it's open-source wold be a welcome plus. Not having to pay to licence WinCE might even make it easier to hold down any price increase necessitated by beefed up hardware features.

At the very least, ths should be interesting.

 

[RedSky0]

Line-out would be nice, but I dunno from my experience a clean headphone out on a DAP has always seemed good enough. Either way, unfortunately no company seems to be too interested to catering to the audiophile market.

The thing is, the compact basic digital audio player market is already pretty crowded. There's a huge amount of choice, the Sansa Clip/Fuze, virtually any of the Sonys prior to the X1000, the Apple Nano, the Cowon D2/+, the Creative Zen, Meizu M3/6 ... the list just goes on and on. What I find sets this apart to me at least is it's both got extensive multimedia and Wi-Fi functionality as well, yet it's not priced ridiculously like say a Sony X series with just 16GB memory and no expandability going for $300, twice the price of the mintpad. If they do end up including Android, open source will also be a huge boon as it won't essentially be locked into the functionality programmed in by the manufacturer and I'm sure 3rd party users would be able to create tons of new functionality for it if it takes off. Kind of how the extensive choice of apps for the iPhone/Touch makes it so appealing over other smart phones/devices.